Karma Affirmation Cistern Don’t Be Afraid Keep Going Toward the Horror
Remember how you didn’t fall yesterday
even though you thought you would?
Life can be like that all the time if you
let it. Remember all the balance beams
and the room full of stuffed animals
at the children’s hospital? How scary it
was and always dark? It was meant
to be comforting but you knew better
and survived it. That gauntlet of stuffed
animals leading to the physical therapy room.
So long ago. When you learned it’s okay
to hold out your hand and help someone up.
No matter what the factory or the nurses
tell you. A good thing to remember is that life
is an equal amount of doughnut shops
and roadkill every day. And if you see
the deer get hit you can call the tiger
rescue group and the deer will become
tiger food. Sometimes the things
that matter to you won’t matter
to anyone but you. And that’s redemption.
The poem that means nothing to anyone
but you. Like how your life was.
Like your bones that you kept safe
and the meatloaf you hid in the corner
of your mouth so it wouldn’t get stolen
off your plate. It is true that sometimes
you want to take the food off other people’s
plates. Let that sink in and then remember
it’s okay. To know you’re part craven smuggler.
Part thief. Maybe if you know your animal.
I mean really know your animal.
You won’t become a builder of factories
or slave ships. Maybe instead of building
a ship somewhere in your body
you just let yourself feel the pain and
humiliation. No need to make it beautiful
for some future reader. Just say how much
you wanted to hurt someone like you got hurt.
And then just watch that for a while. It’s okay
to feel horribly ashamed. Best not to look away.
The gate to joy is past the factory and past
the reader and maybe it’s past your last breath
on this planet. There’s nothing you can do about it.
You come from the cistern of brutality
and hunger. You are the resonator. Just breathe.
Source: Poetry (October 2025)